nas

When hip-hop began, samples were all that DJs and producers had to construct instrumental tracks with. They'd dig through crates of vinyl trying to find isolated drum breaks, melodies or vocals that they could repurpose for use in hip-hop music.

It's no secret that Nas cares deeply about the "Black Lives Matter" movement that's risen in the wake of Michael Brown and Eric Garner's murders, as he was out protesting with Russell Simmons in NYC on Saturday.

Yesterday in New York, the "Millions March" protest against police brutality took place. The March comes in wake of the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Akair Gurley, and Tamir Rice, all black males who were killed by police officers over the last couple of months.

It was only a matter of time before 2 Chainz referenced one of his "Most Expensivest Shit" feats in a verse. The GQ webseries, which features Tity Boi trying out some of the priciest gear in the world, seemed primed for mid-song references to the ATL rapper's love for life's finer things, and now it' happened.

In 1994, we got the seminal hip hop classic, Illmatic, 20 years later we have lip gloss' answer to the record, Lipmatic. That's right, a new makeup line has launched with a name inspired by Nas' debut record, and it's none other than Nas' own daughter behind it.

Nas' first four albums famously wore portraits of the MC in a different light.
He was a kid on Illmatic.
He was an adult on It Was Written.
He was a pharaoh on I Am...
He was Nostradamus on Nastradamus.

When hip-hop began, samples were all that DJs and producers had to construct instrumental tracks with. They'd dig through crates of vinyl trying to find isolated drum breaks, melodies or vocals that they could repurpose for use in hip-hop music.

J Dilla's "Gobstopper" beat has been sitting around for years, with a few enterprising individuals dropping bars over it in years past, but now that Nas copped the instrumental for his new track "The Season," you can bet that he'll inspire new takes on the 2006 track.

We knew this was coming. After previewing the new, J Dilla-produced joint "The Season" at a Run The Jewels album release event in Brooklyn last night, God's Son drops the official version on his Audiomack account.

Run The Jewels are earning critical-acclaim from just about every major publication for their new Run The Jewels 2 LP, but the biggest story to come from their fan appreciation night came from an entirely different hip-hop act: Nas.

Legendary producer Pete Rock has teamed up with all of the original producers featured on Nas' Illmatic for a brand new mixtape. Titled after the film of the same name, Time Is Illmatic is forty minutes of remixed glory.